Don’t take yourself so seriously. What many people will do is resist making themselves look stupid, incompetent, or humiliated in front of others. We’ll avoid making an effortful attempt, speaking up, and being spontaneous because we’re hyper-focused on how we appear to others and how they could be judging us. That doesn’t matter, stop being so serious.
Don’t Take Anything Personally
We cannot grow into our best selves without examining ourselves and embracing criticism and feedback. Think of a stand-up comic. If a comedian were to take it personally every time no one laughed at his joke, he would never grow, change, and become a great comedian. Any little heckler, disruptor, or boo would completely ruin him and he’d be incapable of changing into a funnier comedian. The comic has to be able to examine himself, accept that there are jokes or deliveries of his that suck, and that the only way to change that is to allow himself to understand that clearly by not taking it personally.
You are not your failures. They are distinctly separate from you. What you are is a conscious human being who in each and every second is constantly changing into a different person, which means that in each moment you can change, you can learn, and you can grow. Each failure should be embraced, seen as a learning opportunity, and not a critique of yourself.
So when you humiliate yourself during a presentation, don’t take it personally. Own it and laugh at it. When you stutter your words or when you act awkward, don’t beat yourself up. Own it and laugh at it. When no one laughs at your joke, laugh at how pathetic your attempt was. Own it and embrace it.
Freedom From Outcome
It is when we can speak, move, and express ourselves unhindered by any care of judgment that we can be our most authentic selves. It is also in those unstifled moments when we are happiest, most grounded in reality, and most tapped into our creative genius and talents.
When you catch yourself being negative, judgmental (of yourself and others), and being overly serious over some issue, remind yourself that whatever you’re fretting doesn’t matter and shouldn’t take up so much of your energy.
When things happen that normally bother you, laugh at them. Laugh at how serious others take life. Laugh at how uptight you can be. Laugh at your embarrassments and mistakes. The less seriously you take yourself and you take life, the more free from outcome you will be in your expression, and the more the real you will come out.